In golf club design, iron golf clubs have undergone an evolution. Irons originally had relatively flat "blade" club heads.
The design of iron-type golf clubs then evolved into club heads of the "cavity back" type. Cavity back designs involve taking the weight from the center of the club head and redistributing it to the toe and heel portions of the club head while leaving a cavity behind the hitting area. Irons having a cavity back design which have been marketed on a wide scale by Karsten Mfg. of Phoenix, Ariz. under the trademark "PING" are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,655,188, 3,897,065, the patent issued out of application Ser. No. 07/620,521 on Apr. 23, 1985, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,813, all issued to Solhelm. While the irons sold under the trademark "PING" have been highly successful, the search for improved perimeter weighted iron club head designs has continued.
More recently, the design of wood and iron-type golf club heads has been directed to so-called "oversized" club heads. Examples of such clubs are BIG BERTHA metal woods manufactured by Callaway Golf of Carlsbad, Calif., BIG HEAD oversized metal woods and irons manufactured by Head of Fort Worth, Tex., DOCTOR oversized irons manufactured by MacGregor of Albany, Ga., KING COBRA oversized metal woods and irons manufactured by Cobra Golf, Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif., and KILLER WHALE metal woods manufactured by Wilson Sporting Goods of Chicago, Ill.
There is room for improvement in the design of all of the aforementioned clubs. For example, one drawback in these clubs is that the perimeter weighting is not distributed as efficiently as it could potentially be distributed. Another drawback is that the appearance of these clubs is such that the player might tend to believe that using such clubs will result in a sliced shot due to the fact that many of iron club heads fan out from the rear of the toe of the club head.
The design of iron clubheads is governed by Rule 4-1d in Appendix II of the rules of the United States Golf Association (the "USGA"). Rule 4-1d requires that:
The clubhead shall be generally plain in shape. All parts shall be rigid, structural in nature and functional. PA1 Features such as holes through the head, windows or transparancies, or appendages to the main body of the head such as plates, rods, or fins for the purpose of meeting dimensional specifications, for aiming or for any other purpose are not permitted.
Golf clubs must meet the requirements of the USGA to be considered "legal" for tournament play.
Thus, a need exists for improved perimeter weighted golf clubs clubs that conform to the requirements of the Rules of Golf of the USGA. In particular, a need exists for perimeter weighted golf clubs that have improved appearance and improved structures for distributing the weight around the perimeter of the club head.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.